Just Go With It
by stupefies
Summary: "Okay, I guess you don't need my help," she announced and stood up. "No, no, no, okay I'll stop, I'll stop," he leaned forward grabbed her by the hand, as she was about to leave. "What do you want?" She sat back down and sighed. "Be my pseudo-boyfriend."
1. Chapter 1: Prologue

(**A/N:** This is my first story and I don't really know what else to say besides please review!)

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**CHAPTER 1: PROLOGUE**

Ginny Weasley approached the front of the door with Harry right beside her and Ron trailing behind them, running his fingers through his hair. It was the first summer after their last year at Hogwarts for everyone except Ginny. They'd all gone back for seventh year after Voldemort's death.

Harry, Ginny and Ron had been living in a muggle apartment they'd managed to purchase a little while after all the dust around the war had settled the year before. This entire time Hermione had been absent; almost unreachable, until they decided to stop waiting around for her to answer their calls and just show up at her house uninvited.

"I don't know, Ginny. I mean we just broke up; I don't think she'd want to see me just yet. I want to give her some time." Ron said.

"Bugger off, Ron. If you ruin this entire group dynamic we have going on, I'm telling our mother about those magazines I found under your bed. You're fixing this." Ginny sassed. Harry turned towards Ron and chuckled.

"_Magazines_, Ron? In the twenty-first century, you'd think you'd have found a better alternative" Harry joked

"Shut up, Harry" mumbled Ron.

They stood on the front steps of the house and Ginny knocked thrice on the door.

"Oh, oh she's coming I can here footsteps" Ginny interjected after a few seconds of silence.

The door swung open, and the three were greeted by Hermione dressed in an oversized shirt and jeans. "Hermione!" Ginny squealed and hugged her tightly.

"Merlin, it's like you haven't seen each other in years. It's only been around a month." Harry laughed and greeted her with a hug as well.

"What are you guys doing here? I mean not that I'm not happy to see you or anything." Hermione said.

"You've been so distant, we just wanted to make sure you were alright." Harry said.

Ron Weasley had no idea where to start. For one thing, she already looks different than she did a month ago. She looked more relaxed and if even more attractive. She didn't have any makeup on but it worked on her, for some reason. Secondly, what was he supposed to say? _I'm sorry I broke up with you and caused you the urge to leave without notice. Please forgive me. Also, I think you still have one of my shirts. I need that back. Sorry._ Would she even acknowledge his presence? _Just say something, Weasley_ he thought to himself

"Hey- uh. I- how. Hello." Ron fidgeted. _Great_. _Good start, idiot._

"Ron, h- she started.

"Hermione I can't seem to get this bloody thing to work!" yelled a voice that came from behind Hermione, probably from another room. Ron, Harry and Ginny leaned towards to entrance to see what was going on. She looked in to the house from the doorframe. "Um, just a minute!" she said loudly to whoever the person was. "Uh, guys I'm so-" she turned to them and started to apologize for the interruption.

"I turned it on and it says that-" the boy possessing the voice emerged from behind Hermione holding a laptop upside down. He looked up from the laptop screen and saw the three familiar faces gaping at him. His buttoned-down shirt completely open and exposed his upper half. His hair was tousled, and on his face grew a wicked smile.

"Well, if it isn't Weasel, Potty and Weaselette." Draco smirked.


	2. Chapter 2

**(A/N: **chapter 2! please reviewwwww!**)**

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**CHAPTER 2**

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**ONE WEEK BEFORE. **

Despite how much she tried to convince herself she was over Ron, she knew she wasn't. She'd had somewhat of a crush on him since they were children. Their relationship had developed from irritating each other, to tolerating each other, to her having slight feelings for him, then more. And after finally knowing he liked her the way she did liked him, it didn't last, as he shattered the illusion of their healthy relationship by telling her he wasn't happy.

They had kissed during the Battle of Hogwarts, and after that they'd started to date. Their relationship lasted from then on until he ended it., and Hermione had no clue that Ron wasn't happy. _He could've at least broken up with me earlier on before it got serious, _she thought.

"Ughhhh" she groaned and buried her face in the pillow.

_I am not crying. I am not crying. I am not- _she repeated to herself before she did, in fact, cry.

"Hermione!" her mother called from downstairs.

"Please just leave me alone" she shouted in to her pillow.

As much as she hated to admit it, she wasn't doing any better than she was a week ago, or the week before that.. She was feeling a strange mix of emotions. She was humiliated. She was angry. She was heartbroken. She was sad. She felt betrayed. She laughed at herself for being so stupid. She felt alone, which was both what she wanted to be right now and what she wanted to avoid being. She hated Ron. But _did _she hate Ron? Or did she hate what he _did_?

This is how it went down:

**MAY 2, 1999**

Ron sat in The Three Broomsticks while Hermione told him to wait while she got a "surprise". He played nervously with his hands and shuffled often in his seat_. How was he going to do this? _She was far more invested in this relationship than he was. He thought they could do this, but she was more a friend to him than a girlfriend. He practiced what he was going to say.

It's not _you_. It's me- god dammit, no." he cursed. "Not the bloody 'its not you its me' thing, Weasley." he scolded himself.

"Listen, Hermione. I like you, I do, and it's just that…" he said with mock sympathy to the empty seat in front of him. Merlin, he must look ridiculous right now. Does he _have_ to break up with her? Maybe he could continue pretending to be happy, eventually marry and have children, and continue his life living a lie and fake being in love? Didn't muggles do that all the time, anyways? _Okay Ron, no. No you're not doing this to yourself, you're not doing this to her._

"Hermione, I have to tell you something-" he started.

"What is it?" said Hermione from behind him, voice curious.

"Bloody hell" he whispered under his breath. "Okay, um, I have something to say."

"Wait, wait! Me first. Close your eyes" she said excitedly. He followed. "Okay open." she said in a sing-song voice. "I got them customized! It's a chocolate frog card with you on it. Do you like it?" she asked hopefully.

"Wow, yeah of course I do. Thanks." he tried to sound happy when he only really felt worse.

"Are you okay?" she inquired as she reached out to hold his hand. His hands retreated to his sides, then to his lap.

"Ummm, Hermione…" he stammered, not making eye contact.

She knew what he was going to say by the sound of his voice and the look on his face. She blocked out the sound not wanting to hear a moment of it but also unconsciously doing it, as she stared blankly not focusing on anything in particular. Her heart sunk to her stomach, her eyes dampened. She didn't have to hear it. She didn't have to hear it but she didn't want to be the weak one that let everyone step over her as she continued to be passive. She heard what else he had to say.

"-a-a-and you see, it's not you, it's- okay maybe it is you? Have you thought about tha-" he stammered

"Are you bloody_ KIDDING _me, Ronald!?" she said loudly.

"First you dump me on our ONE YEAR ANNIVERSARY, then you blame it on ME?" she yelled. Her face was hot and she wouldn't be surprised if steam came out of her ears and fire in her eyes.

"O-our anniversa- oh. Oh, Hermione I'm so-"

"You're _so sorry_" she imitated.

She stood up, picked up the chocolate frog card she had spent so long preparing for him, tore it in to pieces and threw it towards him. She ripped the necklace she wore; the one Ron gave her some time into their relationship, and threw it at him. She got her mug of butterbeer and dumped the liquid over his head.

He sat there gaping at her, not quite knowing what to say.

"Happy anniversary" she said bitterly as she walked out of The Three Broomsticks.

* * *

She's ashamed to admit it. She cried.

A lot.

Not only was she losing Ron as a boyfriend, but also how was she supposed to treat him as a friend now? She didn't regret what she did. He deserved it. She also didn't regret casting the confundus spell on him multiple times to make him look like an idiot. She didn't regret hexing him- okay maybe that was too far. _No it wasn't _Hermione contradicted herself. But how was she going to face him after he broke her heart? It was humiliating. He now lives with the knowing _he _hurt _her. _Well, yes, she hurt him _physically_, but she felt embarrassed anyway. _How _was she going to just _sit here_ and let him win this break-up?

She rose from her bed, a plan stirring up inside her know-it-all brain.

It was simple. She wasn't going to. She wasn't going to see him again as broken as she was before. She wasn't going to make him think of her as someone he hurt; as someone he dumped _hard. _She wasn't going to let him know how much he had affected her. She was, in fact, going to get him back. She was going to get him back confidently, slyly, maturely, and with dignity.

_But how?_

She groaned again and fell back on her bed. _How? _

_You're smart, _she assured herself. _Think of something._

* * *

The next day, she went out for a run, when she ran — literally — in to none other than Draco Malfoy.


	3. Chapter 3

**(A/N:** okay now the stories going somewhere! please review :)**)**

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**CHAPTER 3**

"Oh my god, I'm _so_ sorry! I just- _Malfoy?" _she bemused.

"_Ganger? _Merlin, does living in the muggle world mean running in to you every day?" he scoffed.

"Hello to you too." she fumed.

_It's odd seeing Malfoy in civilian clothes_, she thought to herself. He wore skinny jeans and a white v-neck that hung loosely around his slender frame and in his hand held a hose. _Malfoy watering the plants? _She resisted the urge to laugh at the strange sight"What are you doing here?" she asked.

"I live here now." he stated simply. Hermione waited a while for him to continue but she realized that was all he was going to say.

"Why? Since when" she asked.

He shrugged. "A new start. To get away from my family and the reputation we've established. It's been around two weeks now. You?" he said ever-so-casually. _Oh it's nothing, you know. I was just part of a family who was loyal to the Dark Lord. Now I'm here. Woohoo._

"I've always lived here when I wasn't at Hogwarts." Hermione said like that question was ridiculous.

"I mean why aren't you with Weasley and Potter and the red-headed girl?" he asked. "I recall seeing them from afar one time or the other. All together, at that." he continued.

"Draco Malfoy, actually keeping up a conversation with me? Aren't I beneath you, Malfoy?" she replied with a joking tone.

"Whatever, Granger. Leave me." he demanded.

She jogged backwards still facing him and turned extending her arms to the side. "It's a free country, Malfoy!" she exclaimed as she turned the opposite direction and started to increase her pace. He watched her until she completely out of his view.

She wore running shorts and a tank top with her hair tied in a ponytail. She held a device he'd seen on multiple occasions. Muggles with wires that disappeared in to her ears, strange rectangular objects, he had no idea what was going on. He made a mental note to inquire what these things were. He then realized he would seem like an idiot. An eighteen year old boy not knowing what these contraptions were? Unheard of. He shrugged, turned off the hose and went back in to his small one-story house.

As Hermione ran the rest of her daily route she couldn't really believe what just happened_. Malfoy is living in the same block as me. Malfoy is living in a muggle neighborhood. _And on top of all that his house was anything but extravagant. It was only one-story but also not that small. It was was white and made of siding. It had a small front porch with two chairs and a table in between. It had a garden with plants in place of a gate and no car, she noticed. It didn't look brand new. She figured he had bought it from a previous owner, or even rented it. _Rented? Bought second-hand? This was so un-Malfoy-like._

* * *

The next day Draco went to do groceries.

Yes, Draco Malfoy was doing groceries.

He threw on a pair of skinny jeans, which, by the way, were too tight for his liking, and a plain black v-neck t-shirt.

All of his clothes, actually, were plain v-neck shirts that varied in colors. He owned a couple pairs of jeans, cargo shorts and sneakers. Buying clothes had been an activity he didn't particularly like. He had walked in to the store and was immediately approached by man who asked if he needed assistance and wouldn't get the hell out of his face. He had learned his name was Ben, and used it to tell him to get out of his way.

"_Excuse me, uh-" he searched for the name tag. "Ben," he said finally. "I'm fine, Please leave me alone."_

Ben did leave, but another worker approached him a few minutes later anyways doing the exact same thing. Draco groaned and kept walking.

His mother gave the money he used to spend when he told her he wanted to leave. She understood why, and supported him fully. His father was in prison, and his other family members were, too. Well, all except his mother who was found innocent but was kept under temporary house arrest.

Muggle clothes were strange. Most trends were tight at the bottom and loose at the top for the men, he noticed. He didn't understand any of the graphic prints that were on most shirts and decided to just stock up on plain clothes. However he had seen a black shirt with three-fourths sleeves that a snake printed on it. That was currently the only printed t-shirt he owned.

He had bought a pair of sunglasses, too, after another store worker kept insisting, _"sir! How about a pair of sunglasses? They go well with that shirt you picked out!"_ he had said all-too-perkily. He had bought them to get the guy to leave.

Anyways, now that he was living on his own, trying to avoid using magic, (he had to get used to this way of living first, he told himself) he had to cook for himself and buy his own food.

Okay, maybe he cheated. He _did_ use magic to cook food. But he did buy them himself.

_What happened to you_, he shook his head as he looked in his full body mirror. _You look good though_, he complimented and smirked at his reflection. He ran his fingers through his hair and walked out of the house.

He didn't have a car, so he took a bus. Often, girls would check him out. Some would even slip him their number. He had no idea what they meant, though. To him they were just a series of meaningless numbers. He eyed them suspiciously every time it happened, and they usually giggled in reply. He shrugged it off and didn't even bother keeping the numbers because, well what was he going to do with a bunch of random numbers on a piece of paper?

Two weeks in to living here, and he still hasn't made friends, really. That didn't bug him though, it only left him at a disadvantage. Having a muggle friend meant he could navigate through society easily, with someone to guide him. _I need someone to help me out_, he confessed to himself.

He cringed at himself. _Making friends? Needing help? From muggles, on top of that. Merlin, what's going on._

* * *

The bus stopped not long after he got on. "_Granger_?" he called. She looked around looking for whoever called her name. "_Malfoy_?"

_Bloody hell_, he thought. He noticed there were no available seats other than the one next to his. He saw she noticed as well and just opted to stand rather than to be in his presence.

"Picky, picky, picky." he expressed with a smirk. "Take a bloody seat, Granger." He offered, still maintaining that I'm-better-than-you look.

"I'm fine, thanks." she sneered.

He got her arm and pulled her down to the empty seat beside him. "God, Malfoy you don't have to be so disdainful," she peeved.

She noticed the envious looks the other women were giving her in the bus. One girl in the seat in front of her even looked over her shoulder and rolled her eyes right to her face.

"Shut up, mudblood, just trying to lend a helping hand," he said with mock innocence.

She laughed, "_Mudblood_? Malfoy you're living in the _London_, here, you're the odd one out. _You're_ the freak." she bragged. It took him awhile to reply.

As much as he hated to say, she did make a point. He had no idea what he was doing_. I don't need to like her, I just need her help, _he thought.

"You're right," he admitted, cringing.

She gaped at him. "What?"

"You're right," he said again, dying a little inside when he did.

"I- wait. I'm right?" she repeated.

"Yes, for Merlin's sake, you're right. And as much as it pains me to say this I need your help," he proposed.

"_Draco Malfoy_ needs _my_ help," she boasted. She laughed, "you need _my_ help!"

"Yes, Granger. I do. Whatever," he admitted. "I'm not going back to the Wizarding World. I can't. But I can't live here and be completely clueless. Plus muggles are strange. And you're slightly_ not_ muggle, I guess," he trailed off.

"Fine, I'll help you. But you owe me," she proposed.

_Ugh, I can't believe I'm negotiating with her, _he thought.

"Fine. I owe you. What do you want?" he rolled his eyes.

She thought this over. _Wait a minute._

Who did Ron hate more than anyone else back at Hogwarts? _Malfoy._

_Plus I could humiliate him in the process. This would be agonizing to him, _she thought.

_But it would also humiliate me._

_I can't believe I'm doing this._

"We'll talk about it," she said simply with a grin

He frowned.

_What was she going to do. _

"Let's discuss this over coffee." she said as the bus pulled over to a stop.

"Coffee?" he asked.

"Come on," she said getting out of her seat.

* * *

They stopped in front of a shop with a big green and white logo of a girl displayed at the entrance with big bold letters that read "Starbucks Coffee."

"Starbucks?" he asked.

They entered the shop and he looked around somewhat amused.

_Definitely looks a lot better than the shops in Hogsmead, _he noticed.

Hermione told him to look for seats and she went to fall in line. She came back after awhile holding two drinks.

"What is this, again?" he asked examining the paper cup.

" Just try it," she replied and drank hers.

He took the cup and took a big gulp. His eyes widened and he flinched.

"Agh! You didn't tell me it was hot, Granger!" he yelled. His face turned really red. And he stuck his tongue out, "ith it leeling!?"

People turned to look at him but he didn't really care. She, on the other hand, burst out laughing. "Sorry, I swear it slipped my mind!" she gasped for air. "No, its not- its not bleeding," she laughed.

"Get over it," he rolled his eyes. "What do you me to do want in exchange for your help?"

She took a sip of her coffee.

"As you may or may not know, Ron dumped me." she said trailing off at the last part.

"_OH _oh oh Granger got _dumped_." he put his elbows on his lap and rested his head on his hands and looked at her with mock sympathy. "Did wittle Gwanger get her heart bwoken?" he pouted.

She slapped him right across the face. Her face was red and she glared at him. "Shut your mouth, or I'm not helping you," she demanded.

He crossed his legs and leaned back still amused, "Fine, tell me all about your _devastating_, _heart-breaking_ tale of love and loss. Oh, the pain you must have felt." he closed his eyes and put a hand over his heart. Hermione rolled her eyes and Draco burst out laughing.

"Okay, I guess you don't need my help," she announced and stood up.

"No, no, no, okay I'll stop, I'll stop," he leaned forward grabbed her by the hand, as she was about to leave. "What do you want?"

She sat back down and sighed.

"Be my pseudo-boyfriend."


End file.
